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CBCapital BearingsFounder finance field guide
An overhead founder worktable with a compass, calculator, blank planning sheets, and colored document tabs

Founder finance field guide

Find a bearing before you raise.

Capital Bearings maps startup capital, ownership, and readiness through primary sources, plain-language comparisons, and dated reviews.

Explore the Capital Path Index
  • Primary sources
  • Route comparisons
  • Dated reviews

Five decision areas

Follow the question that is in front of the company.

Signature resource

Capital Path Index

Compare ownership, repayment, eligibility, paperwork, and canonical next sources without pretending there is one universally best route.

Compare capital routes
Revenue-funded growth
No dilution · No scheduled repayment
Post-money SAFE
Possible future dilution · No scheduled repayment
Convertible note
Possible future dilution · Negotiated debt terms
Priced equity round
Immediate dilution · No scheduled repayment
Regulation Crowdfunding
Immediate dilution · No scheduled repayment

Field notes and guides

Sources have dates. Decisions should, too.

A research desk detail with labeled paper tabs and a source note for the capital route question

Field note

The capital route question

A source-led route into the relevant guide, with time-sensitive material kept distinct from evergreen mechanics.

A research desk detail with labeled paper tabs and a source note for section 83(b) filing source check

Field note

Section 83(b) filing source check

A source-led route into the relevant guide, with time-sensitive material kept distinct from evergreen mechanics.

A research desk detail with labeled paper tabs and a source note for exempt offering pathways

Field note

Exempt offering pathways

A source-led route into the relevant guide, with time-sensitive material kept distinct from evergreen mechanics.

A research desk detail with labeled paper tabs and a source note for private-market context, q1 2026

Field note

Private-market context, Q1 2026

A source-led route into the relevant guide, with time-sensitive material kept distinct from evergreen mechanics.

A research desk detail with labeled paper tabs and a source note for startup ip resource check

Field note

Startup IP resource check

A source-led route into the relevant guide, with time-sensitive material kept distinct from evergreen mechanics.

A research desk detail with labeled paper tabs and a source note for irs form 15620 reference

Field note

IRS Form 15620 reference

A source-led route into the relevant guide, with time-sensitive material kept distinct from evergreen mechanics.

Recent guides

New questions on the route

Guide

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Maine Public Legal Records: How They Work

A guide to Maine public records, human rights complaints, licensing boards and court decisions, with the deadlines and official texts that govern each step.

Guide

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Business Funding and Civic Engagement

Explore how corporate philanthropy and civic engagement can provide funding for startups and small businesses, with examples from Scotland and beyond.

GuideA working scene for passive income in france planning

field-notes

Passive income in France

A plain-language look at how French savers build passive income through PEA, assurance-vie, PER.

How to use this field guide

Start with the capital route comparison, then read the guide that names the trade-off you need to understand. Our methodology explains classifications, our source ledger links to the originals, and Field Notes keep changing material distinct. Learn what the desk covers about Capital Bearings. The operational boundaries are set out in the privacy policy and legal notice.

A neighboring desk

For teams weighing operations outside the usual metros, Odisha Investment Notes keeps a plain-terms record of Odisha for investors: land allotment, power, water, and the approval steps a project meets in that Indian state.

Neighboring desks

For readers weighing how to test a business idea, launch, or start up outside a major city, The Vale Ledger covers company formation, Welsh funding programs, and market-town premises across Denbighshire and the Vale of Clwyd.

For readers who want to understand how community development and affordable housing actually get financed, community development resources like The District Ledger explain the mechanisms, from CDFIs and loan funds to tax credits and municipal programs, with a Washington DC focus.

For founders tracking how public money reaches small firms, an independent Scottish business journal covers small business grants in Scotland alongside Inverclyde trade, the Clyde port economy, and local industrial history.

For readers who need to decode a bill before paying it, this guide walks through the detailed hospital bill, from CPT codes and itemized statements to No Surprises Act rights, charity care, and what collection agencies may report.

For readers who want to understand how online selling actually works, Shelf & Signal is an independent magazine covering the pandemic-era shift in e-commerce, consumer behaviour, payments, and fulfilment, with plain explanations rather than product pitches.

For founders weighing a deal, a counterparty, or a suspicious payment, corporate due diligence reporting covers pre-transaction checks, fraud investigation, asset tracing, and KYC and AML evidence standards in plain third-person English.

For editors weighing stock footage licensing costs, footage licensing and costs covers royalty free versus rights managed pricing, b-roll roles in the edit, and the technical checks that decide whether archive clips cut in cleanly.